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Dunbartonshire

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55°58′N4°32′W/ 55.96°N 4.53°W/55.96; -4.53

Dunbartonshire(Scottish Gaelic:Siorrachd Dhùn Breatann)[1]or theCounty of Dumbartonis ahistoric county,lieutenancy areaandregistration countyin the westcentral LowlandsofScotlandlying to the north of theRiver Clyde.Dunbartonshire bordersPerthshireto the north,Stirlingshireto the east,LanarkshireandRenfrewshireto the south, andArgyllshireto the west.

Dumbarton
Siorrachd Dhùn Breatann
Historic county
CountryScotland
County townDumbarton
Area
• Total
241 sq mi (624 km2)
Ranked 29th of 34
Chapman code
DNB

The county covered a similar area to theearldomand laterduchyofLennox.The historic county gives its name to two of Scotland's moderncouncil areas,beingEast DunbartonshireandWest Dunbartonshire.

Name

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Looking across theRiver ClydetowardsDumbarton Castle

The town name "Dumbarton"comes from theScottish GaelicDùn Breatainnmeaning "fort of theBritons".[2]Historically, the spelling of the county town and the county were not standardised. By the 18th century the names "County of Dunbarton" and "County of Dumbarton" were used interchangeably.[3]The n in "Dunbarton" represents the etymologyDùn"fort"; the "m" in "Dumbarton" reflects a pronunciation withassimilationof/n/to the labial/m/,due to the influence of the neighbouring labial/b/sound.[4]

Different county bodies used the two spellings: the Dunbarton County Constabulary were formed in 1857 by theCommissioners of Supplyfor the County of Dunbarton.[5]

In 1890 elected county councils were established under theLocal Government (Scotland) Act 1889,which referred to the area as the "County of Dumbarton". However, one of the county council's first acts was to adopt an official seal, for which it chose to use the spelling "Dunbarton", with an "n", as being closer to the name's etymology, despite protests from some residents who maintained that the spelling with an "m" was better established in general usage.[6][7]The town of Dumbarton continued to use the spelling with an "m". Statutory recognition of the spelling with an "n" being used for the county came with theLocal Government (Scotland) Act 1947(10 & 11 Geo. 6.c. 43).[8]

History

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Dunbartonshire's origins as ashire(the area administered by asheriff) are obscure, but it had become a shire by the end of the twelfth century. The shire of Dumbarton was initially similar in area to the earldom ofLennox,covering an area north of theRiver Clydeand aroundLoch Lomond.In the thirteenth century an area north-east of Loch Lomond was transferred toStirlingshire,whilst the two parishes ofKirkintillochandCumbernauldwere transferred from Stirlingshire to Dunbartonshire, despite not adjoining the rest of the county.[9]The changes were reversed in 1504, when Kirkintilloch and Cumbernauld were restored to Stirlingshire and the area north-east of Loch Lomond came back to Dunbartonshire, but the change was short-lived, being reverted again in 1509.[9]

Dumbarton Sheriff Court and County Buildings

Commissioners of Supplywere established in 1667 to act as the main administrative body for the shire outside theburghs.Elected county councils were established in 1890 under theLocal Government (Scotland) Act 1889,taking most of the functions of the commissioners (which were eventually abolished in 1930). The burgh ofDumbartonwas deemed capable of managing its own affairs and so was excluded from the administrative area of the county council, although the county council still chose to base itself in that town.[10]The county council held its first meeting on 22 May 1890 at theCounty Buildings(which also served as the sheriff court) on Church Street in Dumbarton.[11][12]The 1889 act also led to a review of boundaries; in the case of Dunbartonshire the parish ofNew Kilpatrickhad previously straddled Dunbartonshire andStirlingshire,with the town ofMilngaviebeing in the part of the parish in Stirlingshire. The parish was brought entirely within Dunbartonshire on 15 May 1891.[13][14]

County Buildings, Dumbarton

Reforms to local government in 1930 saw the burgh of Dumbarton brought within the administrative area of the county council. The county council was based at the old county buildings at the sheriff court until 1965, when it moved to newCounty Buildingson Garshake Road in Dumbarton. The new building was formally opened byQueen Elizabeth II,accompanied by theDuke of Edinburgh,on 28 June 1965 during a royal visit to the area.[15]

Dunbartonshire was abolished for local government purposes in 1975 under theLocal Government (Scotland) Act 1973,becoming part of the largeStrathclydeRegion.Strathclyde was divided into nineteendistricts,with Dunbartonshire being divided betweenDumbarton,Bearsden and Milngavie,Clydebank,Cumbernauld and KilsythandStrathkelvinDistricts. The combined area of these five districts continued to be used as alieutenancy area.[16]

Local government in Scotland was reorganised again in 1996, with the regions and districts abolished and replaced with unitarycouncil areas.Two of the new council areas include Dunbartonshire in their name. Since 1996 the area of the pre-1975 county of Dunbartonshire has been split between fourcouncil areas:

TheDunbartonshire lieutenancy areacontinues to be defined in terms of the five districts that existed between 1975 and 1996, with the only change made to the lieutenancy areas at the time of the 1996 local government reorganisation being that theChrystonarea of Strathkelvin district was transferred to theLanarkshirelieutenancy.[17]The historic boundaries of Dunbartonshire are still used for land registration purposes, being aregistration county.[18]

Geography

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Loch Lomond as seen from the summit of the island ofInchcaillochtoTorrinch,Creinch,InchmurrinandBen Bowie

The northern half of the county is sparsely populated and dominated byLoch Lomond(now part ofLoch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park), which it shares with Stirlingshire. There are many islands in the loch which form part of the county, the most notable beingIsland I Vow,Tarbet Isle,Inchlonaig,Inchconnachan,Inchmoan,Inchtavannach,Fraoch Eilean,Inchgalbraith,Torrinch,Creinch,InchmurrinandAber Isle.The much smallerGeal Loch,Lochan Beinn Damhain,Lochan Strath Dubh-uisge,andLoch Sloycan also be found here. The area is also home toBen Vorlich,the highest point of Dunbartonshire at 943 m (3,094 ft) and the 229th tallest mountain in Scotland.

Ben Vorlich, the tallest mountain in Dunbartonshire

South-western Dunbartonshire has a long coastline alongLoch Long,culminating in theRosneath peninsulawhich is separated from the main body of the county byGare Loch.Both of these lead into theFirth of Clydewhich forms the southern border. The area east of the river Leven is dominated geographically by theKilpatrick Hillswhich also contains a number of small lochs and reservoirs. In the far south-east the county encompasses a portion of theGreater Glasgowconurbation.

Duncolm, tallest peak in the Kilpatrick Hills

The Cumbernauld exclave is largely flat and heavily urbanised.

Boundaries and the Cumbernauld exclave

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The county retained a largeexclavesituated five miles (eight kilometres) east of the main part of the county despite the boundary changes in the 1890s elsewhere in Scotland, consisting of thecivil parishesofKirkintillochandCumbernauld,betweenStirlingshireandLanarkshire.This area had originally been part of Stirlingshire, but had been annexed to Dunbarton in the reign ofDavid IIat the request ofMalcolm Fleming, Earl of Wigtown,the owner of the land, who was alsoSheriffofDumbarton.[19]

The exclave was dealt with in 19th century legislation as greater administrative duties were given to the counties.

ThePolice (Scotland) Act 1857established police forces throughout Scotland. Section 70 of the act allowed for the parishes to be transferred to the jurisdiction of eitherStirlingshireorLanarkshireConstabularyon resolution of two-thirds of theCommissioners of Supplyfor the County of Dumbarton.[20]

Similar provisions allowing for the transfer of the area for all purposes were included in the County General Assessment (Scotland) Act 1868.[21]No such resolution was made, and the two parishes remained in Dunbartonshire.

Section 40 of theRoads and Bridges (Scotland) Act 1878(41 & 42 Vict.c. 51) provided that for the purposes of that act all detached parts of counties should be placed in the county by which they were surrounded, or with which they had the longest boundary.[22]Accordingly,CumbernauldandKirkintillochcame under the control of the Stirlingshire Road Board. It was originally anticipated that the area would be transferred to Stirlingshire for all other purposes by the boundary commissioners proposed by theLocal Government Bill of 1889.[23]However, a clause was inserted in the bill that stated "the parishes of Cumbernauld and Kirkintilloch, including theburghsand police burghs situate therein, shall for the purposes of this Act, be considered as forming part of the county of Dumbarton ". The clause was vigorously opposed by the Stirlingshire Commissioners of Supply as they had incurred considerable expense in maintaining the roads of the two parishes. The Act as passed provided that the Dunbartonshire County Council was to financially compensate Stirlingshire on the transfer of road powers.[24]

Transport

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TheFirth of Clydeat Kilcreggan, withPSWaverleyapproaching acrossLoch Long

TheWest Highland Lineruns through the county connecting Glasgow toObanandFort Williamand is popular with tourist due to its scenic view of the Highlands. TheNorth Clyde lineserves the towns of theVale of Leven,and many suburban and commuter lines serve those parts of Dunbartonshire that form part of the Glasgow conurbation. Two lines run west–east through the Cumbernauld exclave, linking this area to Glasgow and Falkirk.

Various ferries criss-cross Loch Lomond, linking some of the towns along its banks. The Rosneath peninsula is connected by a ferry from Kilcreggan toGourockin Renfrewshire.

Settlements

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Towns

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  • Colquhoun Square, Helensburgh
  • Dumbarton town centre

Villages and hamlets

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  • Bonhill
  • Kilcreggan
  • Luss
  • Rhu

Glasgow conurbation

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  1. ^Small part inStirlingshire
  2. ^Partly inRenfrewshire
  3. ^Mostly inStirlingshire
  • Clydebank Town Hall
  • New Kilpatrick Parish Church, Bearsden

Cumbernauld exclave

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  • Carbrain
  • Cumbernauld
  • Kirkintilloch

Civil Parishes

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Dumbartonshire Civil Parish map c. 1854 Boundaries are outlined in red

Military connections

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During the expansion of theVolunteer Force,the military presence in Dunbartonshire was widely expanded.[citation needed]

References

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  1. ^"Dunbartonshire".ainmean-aite.scot.Archived fromthe originalon 22 February 2020.Retrieved22 February2020.
  2. ^"Visions of Britain".
  3. ^See for instanceCrown Lands - Forfeited Estates Act, 1784(1784 c. 57) andManning of the Navy Act, 1795(1795 c. 29)
  4. ^Millar, Robert McColl; Trask, Larry (2015)."3.2 Assimilation and dissimilation".Trask's Historical Linguistics(3rd ed.). Routledge.ISBN978-1-317-54176-9.
  5. ^Edinburgh Gazette,Issue 6736, published 15 September 1857
  6. ^"Dumbarton County Council".Kirkintilloch Herald.2 April 1890. p. 5.Retrieved18 February2023.
  7. ^"Dumbarton, not Dunbarton".Lennox Herald.Dumbarton. 11 April 1891. p. 1.Retrieved18 February2023.
  8. ^"Local Government (Scotland) Act 1947",legislation.gov.uk,The National Archives,1947 c. 43,retrieved18 February2023
  9. ^abChalmers, George (1824).Caledonia.London: Cadell and Davis. p. 865.Retrieved18 February2023.
  10. ^Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889, c. 50
  11. ^"Dumbartonshire County Council".Lennox Herald.Dumbarton. 15 February 1890. p. 4.Retrieved19 February2023.
  12. ^"County Council".Lennox Herald.Dumbarton. 24 May 1890. p. 1.Retrieved19 February2023.
  13. ^Shennan, Hay (1892).Boundaries of counties and parishes in Scotland as settled by the Boundary Commissioners under the Local Government (Scotland) Act, 1889.Edinburgh: W. Green. p. 89.Retrieved19 February2023.
  14. ^Shennan, Hay (1892).Boundaries of counties and parishes in Scotland as settled by the Boundary Commissioners under the Local Government (Scotland) Act, 1889.Edinburgh: W. Green. p. 323.Retrieved19 February2023.
  15. ^"Prince Philip and Queen Elizabeth visited Dumbarton: archive photos and video".Dumbarton and Vale of Leven Reporter.9 April 2021.Retrieved18 July2021.
  16. ^"The Lord-Lieutenants Order 1975",legislation.gov.uk,The National Archives,SI 1975/428,retrieved19 February2023
  17. ^"The Lord-Lieutenants (Scotland) Order 1996",legislation.gov.uk,The National Archives,SI 1996/731,retrieved19 February2023
  18. ^"Archived copy"(PDF).Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 28 September 2013.Retrieved26 September2013.{{cite web}}:CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  19. ^Cumbernauld,A Topographical Dictionary of Scotland(1846)(British History Online)
  20. ^Police (Scotland) Act 1857 (c. 72) s. 70
  21. ^1868 (C.82) s.6
  22. ^Roads and Bridges (Scotland) Act 1878 (41 & 42 Vict.c. 51), s.40
  23. ^"Local Government (Scotland) Bill No.179 (HL Deb 06 August 1889 vol 339 cc447-531)".Hansard, Lords Sitting.6 August 1889.Retrieved30 June2008.
  24. ^Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889 1889 (c. 50) s.40
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Bibliography

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